Thanksgiving Day

The United States of America is the only country in the world that takes time out to celebrate its national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day.

On November 11, 2011 ABC News announced that some retailers would start Black Friday at 10 PM on Thanksgiving. As time went on more and more retailers announced that they too would open on Thanksgiving.  

On November 21, Whoopi Goldberg said she had heard that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement was threatening to disturb the Thanksgiving Day Parades. The parades are put together using volunteers and are paid for by companies – their attempt to give something to the people. I hope the movement has enough sense not to interrupt a tradition that is put on for everyone but especially for the kids; the average Americans attending and/or watching the parades haven’t done anything wrong.   

On November 23, Good Morning America announced that Toys”R”Us is opening at 9PM on Thanksgiving. Companies are anxious to get out of the red and say this (opening on Thanksgiving) is what consumers want. I don’t agree and neither does Nordstrom as it is being commended for not decking their halls until Friday. As the world around us fights for what we have, decent Americans, those people who believe in the United States, take the day to be with family and/or friends and reflect on what we have to be grateful for – our freedoms – our civil rights – our opportunities; shopping on Thanksgiving takes this away from the stores’ employees.  

Anthony Hardwick, a Target employee, started a petition on Change.org urging his employer not to open until Friday and as of early Wednesday morning he had nearly 200,000 signatures. On Respectthebird.com it was reported that there were nearly 3,400 pledges asking that Black Friday not gobble up Thanksgiving. We cannot allow Thanksgiving to become just another day. We cannot put company profits and our desire to buy cheaper presents ahead of our nation’s conviction for our way of life; the philosophy and principles that make us so much better than most of the world.

The National Retail Federation is predicting that 152 million shoppers will be out this weekend, up 10% from last year; this is half of the US population. I think the retailers can wait one more day to start the Christmas holiday shopping madness. Do your part and don’t shop until Friday morning; this is the only way that the retailers will know NOT to start a new trend. This can also be your way to show them that you don’t buy in to corporate greed and, believe it or not, that you do support the OWS movement.

Happy Thanksgiving!